What a difference an election makes…sometimes.
The person elected can be even more horrific and incompetent than anyone’s worst fears, even to the point of taking a place down faster than you can say “Brandon Johnson.”
It happens.
Just look at Chicago. Between Kim Foxx, their prosecutor in name only, who was the Cook County State’s Attorney, and the election of the former Chicago teacher’s union choice only a year ago…well.
Let’s just say Brandon Johnson exemplifies those high Chicago teachers’ union standards and has inflicted them on the city he rules over.
Chicago Teachers Union doesn’t know the difference between “drivel” and “dribble.” pic.twitter.com/Boro32lRHk
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) December 1, 2024
Only the bad news and bad times have been a deluge, not a dribble.
There’s nobody happy in Chicago on the skids.
Council Wars 2.0
– The People v. The City of Chicago #13Even the white progressives are finally abandoning @ChicagosMayor Brandon Johnson: “If I wanted this much financial mismanagement I would’ve voted for that guy from Palos Hills [@PaulVallas].” pic.twitter.com/HkPIOthBh2
— Alexander Lacherbauer (@lacherbauer) December 2, 2024
But there is a whiff…not to get anyone excited prematurely…a whiff of real change in the air, and maybe the chance of a turnaround on the streets.
Starting today, there’s a new sheriff in town. A retired appellate court judge who beat a Democratic party machine candidate to take the Cook County State’s Attorney seat formerly held by the risible and reviled Kim Foxx.
This woman is talking the talk as if she knows all about what the walk is fixing to be.
…Saying the state’s attorney’s office under Kim Foxx “isn’t working for victims, defendants, advocates, law enforcement, and ordinary citizens,” retired Appellate Court Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke beat her Democratic primary opponent, Cook County machine candidate Clayton Harris III, by just 1,571 votes in March. She went on to win the November election handily by attracting 66% of the votes.
Burke promised to “seek pre-trial detention for each and every violent crime” saying people charged with attempted murder or murder “require detention,” not electronic monitoring. She also vowed to reverse one of Foxx’s cornerstone decisions by charging retail theft as a felony if the stolen goods are worth $300 or more. Foxx ignored state law by reserving felony charges for habitual offenders and those accused of stealing $1,000 or more.
“If there is public sentiment to change the law, the appropriate avenue to do so is to go to the legislature and change it,” she told the Sun-Times earlier this year.
Now, there are signs that O’Neill Burke will be putting her words into action.
As her highest-ranking assistant, she’s bringing in Anna Demacopoulos, who spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor and 15 years as a Cook County judge. A veteran of the court system called Demacopoulos “exactly what the office needs. No nonsense and no time for laziness.”
Ooo! Two female, take-no-prisoners former judges as the State’s Attorneys?
Stand by bad guys. This could be worse than your grandmother coming after you with a broom.
And those massive retail theft rings who don’t have to worry because Foxx let them fly with such high theft limits before charging?
As of today @EileenCookCnty will be the Cook County State’s Attorney.
The first change she should make is to again follow the law as written.
Kim Foxx required anything over $1000 or 10 convictions.
State law says anything over $300 or a prior conviction. pic.twitter.com/jrX0qGsoM7
— 16th & 17th District Chicago Police Scanner (@CPD1617Scanner) December 2, 2024
I think that could put a real damper on the Louis lifting…Vuittons, that is – during the smash and grabs they’ve all gotten so fond of.
Crazy ideas coming out of Cook County’s (Chicago) new prosecutor: Detain violent offenders and prosecute shoplifters according to the law. pic.twitter.com/bC9LUZKLpG
— Peter Moskos (@PeterMoskos) December 2, 2024
How this will square with a mayor who thinks masses of teenagers and twenty-somethings tearing up the downtown and shooting each other is just “kids being stupid” remains to be seen, but for sure, the people who live in the neighborhoods will be thankful if Burke begins to put the hammer down.
Ladies and gentlemen, with her oath now taken, Cook County has a new State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke. Today is a great day for a return to public safety for all the people of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Hallelujah! pic.twitter.com/j7nxdxz63i
— Daniel Kirk (@AttyDanKirk) December 2, 2024
That’s quite a change for Chicago.
